7 Reasons MySpace Went Bust

MySpace recently laid off over 500 employees, cutting staff by 47%. Not surprising. Actually, it’s more surprising that MySpace had almost a thousand employees. The website has been on a slow slide into oblivion for the past few years. Sure it still gets decent traffic, and it’s used by a few million people, but it will never get back to it’s once massive appeal and popularity.

There are probably countless internal reasons for the collapse but as a former user I’d like to give some reasons/opinion why the social website isn’t the force it once was.

The News Gave It a Bad Name

At one point, it felt like every other day there was a story about how something tragic happened and it all started with a MySpace account; fake accounts and teens committing suicide, pedophiles looking for young kids and countless other shocking stories that painted MySpace as this awful online entity where people only went to do awful things. Run enough “Why you shouldn’t let your child on MySpace” stories on the evening news and it’s bound to lose some of it’s younger audience because their parents blocked it.

Too Big, Too Fast

It seemed like overnight, everyone and their mother was on MySpace. Kids, parents, celebs, bands and comedians (more on them later) and anyone trying to obtain a “social media presence” or just do some good old fashioned spying. Then, just like most fads, people gave up on it just as fast as they had signed on. With the massive influx of new users, the website needed more funding and help keeping it afloat. So it had no choice but to…

It Sold Out

The worst thing a start-up company can do is sell to a larger entity. Unless they are just looking to make a quick buck — then it’s probably the best thing that can happen. When NewsCorp bought MySpace in 2005 for $580 million, it was the beginning of the end. Once a huge corporation takes over a small enterprise they gobble it up and change the way they do business. It’s just the nature of the beast. MySpace wasn’t this cool little place to connect with friends and new people anymore. It became part of the Fox machine and lost it’s identity. They got rid of their “Toms”. People liked Tom.

Bands and Comedians Took Over

Back to these website killers; figuring out that MySpace was a cheap and easy place to upload songs and material, musical acts (talented and untalented) and comedians (talented and untalented) came pouring in and hit people over the head with their “HEY LOOK AT ME” antics of mailing random users and pushing their website in every interview. Dane Cook basically became a star thanks to his MySpace following. Now you know who to blame.

Layouts

Ugh. It was nice to make your page match your personality but then it became such an ordeal. Layouts, blings, music players and everything else crowded up a page and made them impossible to load. Looking at a MySpace profile crashed my computer more times than I can even guess.

It Started To Feel Creepy

The negative news stories may have been to blame but if you mentioned to someone you have a MySpace page they’d usually follow-up with a “you looking for little kids” or “you starting a band?” It started to have a negative vibe. Almost like you were doing something wrong just for having a profile. So people stopped checking and eventually just killed their account.

Pretty Simple: Facebook

This probably should have been the first point because it’s pretty damn obvious but it got beat by a better product. Facebook was easier to use, easier to find people, involved less of the “hey look at me” of MySpace because there were no layouts or minor celebs clogging up the area. It was also more widely accepted as a better social networking tool. It’s the industry leader. For now.

I’m not sure if I agree with all of the reasons My Space became No Space. I think it was Facebook AND the ridiculous wait time for a page to load.

. To be honest, I LOVED My Space. There was nothing better than killing time on photobucket looking for sparkle graphics…sayings…quotes…etc. As pathetic as it may sound, when My Space was banging out, me and my girlfriends (who by no means had a lot of free time) would call each other. The conversation went something like, “I just found the sickest Chanel graphic”. Also, “OMG go look at the comment I just posted on your page”. There was also music…etc. It was FUN!

When I first signed on to Facebook I was SO bored. I couldn’t understand why a plain blue and white website could be the new banger.

Facebook is proof that people love to be in each other’s Kool Aid. People want to know what Mary did yesterday. The girl who cheated on her man wants to know what her man’s friends are saying on their posts…the wild teenager is inviting everyone over through a simple invite for an episode of “Jersey Shore”..and the older folks are having a knick knack, patty wack, give the cow a home time…on Farmville.

I want to out-do Facebook…I want to be the source of a Golden Globe (Social Network)..I want a lot of things. I suppose for now I’ll just hope I get a mastery star for my Tulips on Farmville, I hope I am poked by at least 50 friends, and I’ll hit the like button when a friend of mine posts a quote by Marilyn Monroe. Oh, almost forgot…taking pictures in life just to make sure I get a good one to use as my default!! (sarcasm)